Merdeka Day Odyssey 2010

This year, Merdeka Day falls on a weekday, Tuesday to be exact and so we had a day off in the middle of the week. My colleague Lum, her hubby Mathew and neighbour Lim...and I of course went for a try on the newly opened Raub - Betau/Bertam Valley link road to Ringlet at the Cameron Highlands.

We started early from Kl so as to have a leisurely drive as well as trying to get good birding time at the mountains. After a breakfast pit stop in Raub, we drove to Kuala Medang. This quaint village has home stay programmes as well as boating facilities to explore the Jelai River and her tributaries. After some photos and some birds, off we went: direction Pos Betau - Bertam Valley - Ringlet - Tanah Rata - Brinchang - Sungei Palas - Mossy Jungle at the peak of Mount Brinchang (6 666 feet above sea level). On the way, we spotted 2 beautiful black eagles on a Tualang tree just after Pos Betau. Having spent quite some time on pit stops and birding along the way, we decided to head straight to the Mossy jungle trail near the peak of Gunung Brinchang with the promise of interesting wildlife spectacles (oops...we actually had lunch first at Ringlet). We were greeted by heavy mist at the peak and the temperature must have been hovering at around 14 - 18 degrees because I started to get chills even with my long-sleeved polo on. We saw some very interesting highland birds like the Niltava (beautiful blue bird) and the Barbet (learning birding vocab here...) as well as many interesting montane plants that I have not seen before. I even spotted a clump of flowering Rhododendron Scortechinii along the way back! The thick mist impart an exotic and out-of-this-country experience and had a decidedly eerie tone to it. Luckily, steps and railings were set along the paths to guide the randonneurs (trekkers) and is, in my opinion, perfect to keep trekkers off the possibilities of getting lost in the misty cloud forest. Unfortunately, the construction had to include the sacrifice of many trees and mossy patches along the way.

Sans realizing the passing of time as we were totally absorbed by the experience until the watch showed it was time to leave (nearing 5 p.m.). We made another pit stop on the way down at Sungei Palas before deciding on dinner at Ringlet and before we knew it, nightfall came. The drive down the mountains was slow and we reached Kl almost midnight...tired but fulfilled.

The bridge that spans the Jelai River to Tanjung Gahai.

Moored motorized sampan at the banks of the Jelai River at Kuala Medang.

A butterfly 'drinking' off a mud patch - the Common Rose, Pachliopta aristolochiae

Wild passion fruits dangling off the branches of a huge Bungor tree.

Passion fruits.

Neram trees on the banks of the Ulu Jelai River.

View of the Betau Valley from the highway.

Hive of the Giant Asiatic Honey Bee on the branch of a tall Tualang tree.

A pair of black eagles on the same tree. (picture courtesy of Lim Yau Tong from his page at picasaweb)

rapids...

Freshly dug bamboo shoots on sale.

Petai, or sting beans. Smelly and anti-social food but mildly diuretic and good for the kidneys.

Semai woman preparing the bamboo shoots...

The Semai vendors along the road at Bertam...

Orang Asli settlement...

Newly constructed retaining walls that bleed laterite stained effluents from the disturbed hills after a rainfall.

Vegetable patch. Thousands of acres are exploited for agriculture on this sensitive environment that includes the headwater of the Telom River, one of the main tributaries that made up the Jelai River system which in turn feeds the Pahang River, the biggest river of the peninsular. Will we ever learn from past mistakes? Never.

Ringlet town.

Still hungry for more land...at Ringlet.

Nice dish of stir-fried vege, called Dragon's whiskers in chinese but actually the tendrils and young shoots of the chayote, called christophene in French.

The fruit of the chayote...

Plants from Mount Brinchang.

Misty forest...

The pathways...

Nice bird...

Lycopodium spp. on a mossy branch.

Mosses on trunks of trees on the heath forest.

A patch of spaghnum moss.

Wild raspberries.

Flowering spath of an arum lily.

fire-cracker plant.

Beautiful pink rhododendrons.

The happy birders.

View from the observation tower at the peak of Mount Brinchang.

Misty...

Liparis orchid.

Baby pitcher plant.

Beautiful light-pink Dendrobium spp.

Impatiens riddleyi -the mountain balsam.

A patch of Begonias.

Blue berries...

View of Sungei Palas tea estate - still owned by the Russell Family of the founder.

Like airstrips in the dark, lighted greenhouses for chrysanthemums illuminate the eerie highland nights along the newly opened Bertam Valley link road to Raub and Kuala Lipis...

Île de Ré...fabulous island of the French Atlantic Coast

Île de Ré is a fabulous island during spring to summer. Rest of the year, the wind is too strong and there's simply too much rain mixed with cold wind from the Atlantic. I first visited the island back in spring 2004 during a university trip for foreign students to 'learn' about French culture. The best way to explore is of course sans bus and car. If you're an amateur trekker...by foot. Bicycle is also an interesting option. Visit in mid spring and the fields will be flowering, especially the wild patches where the field poppies grow. I saw them from the bus's window so no chance to photograph any.

Reflecting back, I realized I never capitalized from the proximity of where I stayed (town center of La Rochelle) to the island (only about 10 km plus or so) because I was so busy trying on other things...if you're ever so lucky enough to get there, don't miss the wonderful salt marshes where fabulous sea salt is still hand-collected during the warm and long summer nights. The best, called fleur de sel, is a must for the dinner table. French uses this to flavour food and salads. Île de Ré and the neighbouring Ile d'Oleron are also producers of magnificent new potatoes of irregular shapes. These are fantastic lightly steamed or boiled and eaten with salted butter. In the salt marshes, a strange succulent plant resembling an algae called salicorne is a must-try. Lightly coat with a vinaigrette without salt (the plant is naturally salty) is the best way to taste this unusual delicacy.

Picture of the salicorne from les-vegetaliseurs.com.

If you're a fan of seafood, especially oysters, this IS the place to be as there is a bewildering choice. I tasted one of the strangest yet delicious ice-cream near the light house - caramel au fleur de sel: Butterscotch with salt flower. A must-try also. This flavour is also made into candies, a speciality of the salt-making regions of the French Atlantic Coast.

For a virtual visit, go to the island's official website at: www.holiday-iledere.co.uk

A promenade in the village, through beautifully planted pathways called venelle.

Quiet Sunday morning.

The foreshore, as they are called in English...during low tide.

Quaint restaurant by the sea...restaurants, houses and buildings in general adhere to a uniformed colour code at Ile de Re: white for body and green or sea blue for doors and windows.

A yacht at the foreshore, waiting for the returning tide.

Entrance to the prison: despite its current splendour and romantisme, La Rochelle and Ile de Re shared a violent history in slave trading.


An extremely picturesque little house at the salt marsh, fenced by nature - in this case flowering wild mustards.

At the salt marsh.

The salt pans where the famous "fleur de sel" (salt flower), crystallized salt on the surface of the salt pan is formed at the height of summer. People who collect the salt (they're all hand collected) is called sauniers.

An inlet that direct fresh sea water into the salt marshes.

The light house.

View from the light house.